My current group of players are shaping up nicely playing through LMoP for the first time, and after a few sessions have indicated they would like to go on another adventure afterward. After no little thought and some research I've decided to go with SKT. However, my party of players heralds from WoW, where they all play on the Horde faction and have asked if they can create a party of Orcs/Goblins and other 'Monstrous' characters from Volo's.
I understand there probably should be certain restrictions of class, like orcish paladins? But honestly I'd like to see how my party shapes up without any.
Has anyone got any tips of how to run a game of monstrous party members through SKT or in general?
The one time my friend group tried a party of monster players, it played far more comically than usual. The players were into that, and the DM catered to the ridiculousness of Orcs and Goblins (and whatever else they convinced the DM to allow) trolleying off to be heroes. The game quickly became about a bunch of bad guys trying really hard to be good (but not really knowing how to do that). Not every such game will go that way of course, but I mention it only because it shows there's a shot at real fun in such a set up.
The downside, however, was that the RP led to situations where one or two players would constantly fight over who was the "leader." This made sense from an RP standpoint (a bunch of alpha Orcs trying to attain dominance over "lesser" races), but it meant they were constantly picking on the goblins and kobolds. At first it was fun, but it eventually became a game about the alphas only. Everyone else was just fodder for their dick-measuring contest (which, again, makes sense from an RP perspective, but got really boring for those Goblin players).
Looking back, they could have made sure that they were playing a game firmly set on the rails to keep them more goal-oriented. Putting a very powerful NPC as an overlord - a taskmaster - at their backs would have encouraged them to work together more. Critical Role did a one-shot where they played as orcs in the Shadows of Mordor setting where this happened, and I immediately thought "ah, this would have helped our party."
Sounds more difficult than I had originally imagined. At the same time it sounds like a lot of fun, just depends on how the party gets together, either as you said with an NPC overlord, or even with an ooc group decided leader.
I do feel my group wouldn't get into fights and picking on the smaller ones as they all seem rather nice, but it is dnd, and you honestly never know.
Thanks for the link, that is going in my library right now. Looks awesome.
Has anyone got any tips of how to run a game of monstrous party members through SKT or in general?
I haven't read/ played SKT, so I can't really talk about that. But, given that we're talking about WoW and the Horde, can I ask if we're talking about an Evil game, versus playing a regular "goodly" game with just different races, a glorified template swap? A "redemption" game where the Orcs thrust off their savage ways and become "civilized?"*
There's a lot of different ways that this could go, so the most important thing I find here is to sit down and figure out what the players want out of the game. A good way to do that, I find, is to figure out what the character goals are. Another thing to keep in mind is that, more than any regular D&D game, you need a good reason for the group to come together. It helps to work out character bonds within the party as well, how they all relate, rather than just dropping them together as a band of misfits to run ahead. Lay some background.
* I put these in quotes, because D&D has a tendacy to treat the Volo races the same way people look at "heathens" and "savage tribes" did in the real world, with all the problems associated with that.
I understand there probably should be certain restrictions of class, like orcish paladins?
I heavily recommend against any kind of class restrictions at all. Especially when there's at least three paladin sub-classes that make perfect sense for the stereotypical orc, and more depending on character concepts.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
My current group of players are shaping up nicely playing through LMoP for the first time, and after a few sessions have indicated they would like to go on another adventure afterward. After no little thought and some research I've decided to go with SKT. However, my party of players heralds from WoW, where they all play on the Horde faction and have asked if they can create a party of Orcs/Goblins and other 'Monstrous' characters from Volo's.
I understand there probably should be certain restrictions of class, like orcish paladins? But honestly I'd like to see how my party shapes up without any.
Has anyone got any tips of how to run a game of monstrous party members through SKT or in general?
The one time my friend group tried a party of monster players, it played far more comically than usual. The players were into that, and the DM catered to the ridiculousness of Orcs and Goblins (and whatever else they convinced the DM to allow) trolleying off to be heroes. The game quickly became about a bunch of bad guys trying really hard to be good (but not really knowing how to do that). Not every such game will go that way of course, but I mention it only because it shows there's a shot at real fun in such a set up.
The downside, however, was that the RP led to situations where one or two players would constantly fight over who was the "leader." This made sense from an RP standpoint (a bunch of alpha Orcs trying to attain dominance over "lesser" races), but it meant they were constantly picking on the goblins and kobolds. At first it was fun, but it eventually became a game about the alphas only. Everyone else was just fodder for their dick-measuring contest (which, again, makes sense from an RP perspective, but got really boring for those Goblin players).
Looking back, they could have made sure that they were playing a game firmly set on the rails to keep them more goal-oriented. Putting a very powerful NPC as an overlord - a taskmaster - at their backs would have encouraged them to work together more. Critical Role did a one-shot where they played as orcs in the Shadows of Mordor setting where this happened, and I immediately thought "ah, this would have helped our party."
Related: have you seen Tyler Kamstra's massive homebrew converting monster races into playable races? Helpful? http://www.dmsguild.com/product/230312/Monstrous-Races
Sounds more difficult than I had originally imagined. At the same time it sounds like a lot of fun, just depends on how the party gets together, either as you said with an NPC overlord, or even with an ooc group decided leader.
I do feel my group wouldn't get into fights and picking on the smaller ones as they all seem rather nice, but it is dnd, and you honestly never know.
Thanks for the link, that is going in my library right now. Looks awesome.